Building a Credit History - Learn the Basics

A credit history can be viewed as financial character reference. A good credit history is necessary for an easy bank loan, good job, for leasing apartments, negotiating cell phone deals and better insurance rates. Easy as it sounds, credit history warrants great vigilance from the user as one small mistake can take years to correct. A good credit history will give you a good credit score which is a measuring scale for your credit worthiness.

As with everything in life, starting out in the right direction is the best way to ensure a good credit history. There are some cardinal rules that a first-time credit builder should adhere to: Open a checking and savings accounts in a reliable bank: As an initial step toward building a good credit history, checking and saving accounts will reflect your ability to pay for immediate bills and will also show that you are saving for the future.

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Understanding the basics: A good credit score needs one to the basic understanding of the system. There are some simple conventions to be adhered to when operating a credit card; bills should be paid on time, live within your means and be prudent while spending. Keeping in mind that a single missed payment can undo an entire good credit history and the long years it will take to make up for that lapse. To avoid maxing out your credit limit, always use less than 30% of your credit limit to be on the safer side and remember that you don't need a balance on your credit card to have a good credit score. Paying your bills on time is the hard way to keep it in shape.

Always check your credit report: There are many sites online which can give you free information regarding your credit report status, make use of these and be alert to your scores. With Identity theft being prevalent these days, awareness of one's credit report will help one be on guard against it. Getting multiple reports from multiple sites will also help.

Go through your credit reports carefully: Credit reports are not infallible, going through multiple reports and being attentive to small or big errors is essential. As a consumer, it also helpful to keep in mind that negative information, like late payments, delinquencies, liens etc should be dropped after seven years, while bankruptcy can stay on your report till 10 years. Once you locate errors, the agencies can be asked to investigate them, this can easily be done online too.

Inclusion of information: Adding more positive information can increase your reliability in the eyes of the lender. Positive information can include, having the same job, address for a longer period of time, which throws light on your stability. While it does not directly affect the credit score, it is pertinent information used by the lender to substantiate your existing credit score.

Building a Credit History - Learn the Basics

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The Basics of Growing Flowers in Tropical Climates

Different types of flowers have adapted to grow naturally in the three different climate zones of the globe. These zones include the tropical, temperate, and polar zones. Tropical flowers are are abundant, as many different plant species thrive in a climate that is largely non-arid and warm. Flowers that are native to the tropics are those that grow naturally in areas that lie between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer.

This area includes the most fertile areas of China, Africa, and South America. Other tropical locations include the Congo Basin, and parts of the United States, Mexico, and Australia. If you live in these areas, it is relatively easy to grow flowers native to the area, as native tropical flowers enjoy the warm temperatures and frequent rainfall these areas receive.

Grow Calendar 2011

If you are interested in growing flowers in a tropical climate, you will have the most luck with growing tropical flowers. Some of the most popular tropical flowers for the dahlias, Christmas orchids and other types of orchids, the African tulip, the Angel Wing begonia, lotus, jasmine, hibiscus, the blue passion flower, and many others. Tropical blooms are known for being fragrant and colorful, and most of them bloom throughout the year when planted in a native environment. Tropical flowers are truly a beautiful addition to gardens and yards, giving people gorgeous landscapes and attracting birds and other species to enjoy their nectar and natural coverage.

You can try to grow flowers from other climates such as the temperate and polar zones in a tropical landscape, but largely you will need to grow these in a greenhouse setting where you can control the rainfall and temperature these plants receive. Plants that are not native to the tropical climate may not thrive in such a warm, wet climate as you would find in the Tropics.

The Basics of Growing Flowers in Tropical Climates

Grow Calendar 2011

Bonzai Trees Basics

Even though "bonzai" is the Japanese word, it originally came from the Chinese word "punsai", which means "tree in a pot". It can also be a shrub or a vine and not just trees. The growing of bonzai trees was a Chinese practice that was brought to Japan some 5 centuries ago where it was transformed as an art form.

The West came to know of it only in the early 1900s and since then, it became not only a favorite hobby by many but was also considered a serious art form in horticulture. Today, bonzai tree exhibits and shows, bonzai stores, bonzai auctions all abound in the West.

Grow Calendar 2011

Many people mistakenly think that a bonsai tree is a naturally small plant or some kind of a special plant when in fact a bonsai tree is an average tree or plant that has been trained to retain its small size.

Bonzai trees are not limited to just small trees or plants, you may find large trees as well that have been shaped using the art of bonzai. They still go through the same stages of growth each season. A bonsai tree bears flowers or fruits and shed leaves just like its normal-sized counterpart.

It is important for every beginner to understand that the major key to cultivating a bonzai is pruning or triming, this is the technique which allows the tree to stay small. If you do not prune your bonzai regularly the tree will grow to its normal height and size.

The roots of a bonzai tree must be pruned annually so that it will remain healthy. When the roots are pruned, it produces a tiny dense ball or pack of root that allows it to be transplanted to a suitable container. In root pruning, one-third of the roots are removed yearly so that you can introduce new soil and give space for new roots to develop.

The height of a bonsai tree can vary. There are trees that are a few centimeters high and some reaching up to a meter or more.

There are no limitations as long as the bonzai tree is grown in a pot and achieves the image of a full grown tree as it would in nature.

It is important to know that without the proper bonsai tree care, your bonzai tree could go into permanent dormancy. Although, if your passionate and understand how to grow a bonzai, it will not required 24 hour attention or be complicated. It will eventually come out naturally.

Bonzai Trees Basics

Grow Calendar 2011

How to Start a Duct Tape Wallet Business - The Basics

So, you want to produce some extra income by making duct tape wallets. Good for you!

That is an excellent decision and I will tell you exactly how we built our business so you can duplicate what we have done.

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First, let me make a couple of things perfectly clear:
Building These Wallets Is NOT Easy - if you think there is no trouble working with the stickiest, toughest tape known to mankind - THINK AGAIN. So Simple a Child Can Do This - tons of kids make their own duct tape wallets. The tough part is keeping things organized and easy to create high quality wallets every time. Wanting To Do This Is 80% of the Battle - if you have good manual dexterity and can follow instructions, you will be able to do this. Understanding that quality comes with practice will help you develop a production system quickly.

Building a wallet business is not rocket science:
Learn How To Build Them - perform a YouTube.com search for "how to build duct tape wallets". This is how we started. After combining techniques we learned from the top 40 YouTube duct tape wallet building videos, we developed our own system. Source Tape - most hardware or building supply stores like Home Depot or Lowes stock a few colors of 2 inch wide duct tape and special craft stores like Michaels have a much larger selection of colors. Over time, we sourced 4 inch wide tape and we now carry it in 28 colors and patterns. Selling Product - we initially sold our wallets at farmer's markets and craft fairs but found that sales from that method barely covered expenses and sometimes not even that. Today we retail / wholesale our wallets through our own website and have an exclusive wholesale agreement for some color combinations with uncommongoods.com. You can easily sell through online sites like 1000markets.com or Etsy.com, too.

The biggest duct tape wallet manufacturing company in the world now produces wallets by machine in China and they sell hundreds of thousands of units every year. They have been in business since 2001 so there is definitely a demand for this type of accessory.

By contrast, every wallet in our small company is made by stay-at-home moms and we produced just over 2000 units in our first year.

So, there is the short story about our initial success and I assure you, if we can do this, you CAN do this.

Here is hoping you stick to it!

Barry Williams

How to Start a Duct Tape Wallet Business - The Basics

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